


Birds and Bees

by honooko



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 21:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1872768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honooko/pseuds/honooko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rosethorn is called upon to give Briar The Talk. It is a task she does not, even slightly, relish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birds and Bees

“I will _not_ ,” Rosethorn said with as much force and certainty as she could muster without waking any of the children up. Lark propped her hands on her hips, mirroring one of Rosethorn’s most beloved of scolding-poses, and delivered her own stinging comeback:

“You will. Tomorrow, Rosie.”

Rosethorn, to her utter dismay, discovered that Lark was exactly right. She wiggled her bare feet into the garden’s dirt, wishing anyone else had the task she’d been set. Or any other student. Really, any situation that involved one or the other of them being left out was preferable.

“Boy!” she called out. She didn’t need to shout very loudly; he was hiding nearby, trying to peek into the windows of her workshop. She did appreciate his ability to be near her without actually, technically, being underfoot. He arrived at her side so quickly, she briefly thought he’d managed teleportation. Blinking at him, the weight of her duty settled across her narrow shoulders.

He looked up at her, bright-eyed and innocent. Suspiciously innocent. She suspected there would be one fewer cakes at tea this afternoon. When would he learn he didn’t need to steal food anymore? There was plenty to have, they weren’t on rations.

“You rang?” he said, grinning at her in that way that made her want to tweak his nose for having the cheek to amuse her.

“We must talk,” she said. Her speech faltered for a moment. “I must talk. With you. At you.”

“...I ain’t in trouble though, right?” he asked, the guilt of the stolen pastry beginning to show.

“I highly doubt you are, in this particular instance,” she assured him. “I hope not, anyway.” His expression was running a wide range of confused changes, from guilt to worry then something almost like fear. She didn’t like seeing that one, so she stomped on it. “We need to talk about babies.”

_Now_ he was confused.

“What?” he asked. “What about ‘em?”

“Where they come from,” she said. Gods, was this awkward. She’d always left this up to Lark, but the woman had been dead-set on Rosethorn breaking it to the boy. _Why me?_ Rosethorn pleaded in her mind. _Why not Niko, or Frostpine—gods all save me, even Crane! ___

__Briar looked horrified. She suspected her own expression was not far off._ _

__“Uh, can we not?” he asked hurriedly. “Serious, let’s not.”_ _

__“We have to,” Rosethorn said, gritting her teeth._ _

__“ _Why?!_ ”_ _

__“Lark said so.”_ _

__They fell into silence._ _

__“Look, it’s just—pollen, and seeds, you understand, so—“ She was not blushing. That would be silly. She was a grown woman, a woman who would not blush when talking to a _child_ about _adult matters.__ _

__“I know!” he said desperately, throwing up his hands. “I know about—that stuff! Girls and—things!”_ _

__“You—how would you know?” Rosethorn asked, slightly concerned. He was only eleven, surely he hadn’t gotten there _already.__ _

__“Back—back in Sotat, there’re these girls, right? They ain’t got much, maybe nuthin’ but a roof. Sometimes not that either. So they—they sell what they got.” He looked incredibly disheartened, and she had to fight off the urge to pat his shoulder in what was most definitely going to be simply more awkward. “Sometimes they ain’t careful, or the bag’ll pay more if she’s not—and then babies. Sometimes there’re babies.”_ _

__Ah._ _

__“It’s not usually like that,” she said as diplomatically as she could._ _

__“Prolly’ not,” he agreed. “But that’s why you gotta wait. So everybody’s all careful. Really careful.” He paused for a moment, before adding quite honestly, “I don’t like babies.”_ _

__Rosethorn gathered herself._ _

__“I’m glad we had this talk,” she said. “Let’s both endeavor to make sure Lark knows that we did, in fact, have this talk.”_ _

__“And we’re never gonna do it again,” Briar agreed solemnly. He looked about to spit on the promise, but time had somewhat curbed him of the habit and he just nodded his head very sharply instead._ _

___I sincerely hope I never know when he gets a girlfriend,_ she thought with a grimace._ _

__“Weeding?” Briar said after a moment, looking surprisingly hopeful._ _

__“Weeding,” she agreed._ _

__They never did. _Thank the gods.__ _


End file.
